ADAMITES. - This name is commonly used to designate adherents of certain doctrines that, beginning in the 2nd century, emerged at various times throughout the ages. In modern times, a parallel might be found in the theories of the "nudists."
St. Epiphanius (4th century) gives the name of Adamites or Adami to a sect that he traces back to the Gnostics or Basilidians, while Clement of Alexandria traces it to the Carpocratians, Anastasius Sinaita to the Manichees, and Theodore traces it to Prodicus, from which also comes the name of Prodichians. In the 4th century, Sulpicius Severus attributes some of their doctrines to the Priscillianists. In the 12th century, in the Low Countries, mention is again made of the Adamites and their leader Tanchelm, exposed by St. Norbert. In the 13th and 14th centuries, they reappear in Flanders and neighboring regions with the Beghards or Béguines, or Brothers and Sisters of the Free Spirit, and with the Turlupins. From this sect seems to have come Picard, who, according to Aeneas Silvius Piccolomini, in the 15th century introduced similar errors into Bohemia, restoring the name of Adamites. Having disappeared after the Hussite wars, they reappeared under Emperor Joseph II (1780-90), but only briefly, and resurfaced around 1848 in the Austrian Empire.
Authors do not agree on the conduct of the Adamites. Some assert that they went completely naked, or at most wore a loincloth; others that they stripped only when entering their secret meetings; still others that they entered clothed, and stripped during the assembly, but extinguishing the lights. Nor are the motives for these practices known with certainty. Some say they intended to imitate the state of Adam and Eve before the Fall (St. Epiphanius); others claim that they sought by this act to demonstrate that Jesus Christ had restored us to our original innocence; others maintain that by nakedness they wished to accustom reason to overcome passion, thus demonstrating the dominion of grace over nature.